LotFP Session 2

Previously, our somewhat amoral adventurers cleared out their first dungeon, which was stuffed to the brim with goblins. Having lied about the deaths of their fellows, Tesco and Gutch had secured a bargain on a horse and carriage, allowing them to cover far more distance. The party reconvened, and set off, about 2 days travel from the town of Midton.

The first day of travel passed uneventfully, the party electing to camp by the roadside rather than push on overnight. Pepper's watch passed without incident, and so he seamlessly passed the watch to over Gutch. The watch was dragging on when Gutch felt hot breath at his back. He span round to face the source of this - a huge elk, watching him without apparent fear or malice. They held eyes for a moment before the Elk touched it's nose to his, transferring an incredibly sense of calm. Gutch simply watched, transfixed, as the Elk then walked out the encampment. He elected to not worry his companions with this event, and continued his watch as before.

Morning dawned on the camp, and the began moving with first light. This journey was for the most part uneventful, though the group did spy some figures moving in the deeper woods - heavy hooded cloaks moving in some sort of procession. The party ignored them and vice versa.

With this encounter behind them, the group entered the perimeter of Midton, a middling town known locally as the mercantile hub. They had made good time and decided to look around the town before settling down for the evening. The group had heard of two points of interest - a jeweller who could appraise and purchase the rock crystal they had acquired as well as someone claiming to be a magic user in the town. Milk and Tesco set off to see the latter, whilst Gutch and Pepper elected to visit the jeweller.

With Pepper standing guard over the carriage, chest and horse, Gutch attempted to deal with the jeweller whilst casing the joint, planning larceny at a later date. He eventually haggled the jeweller down to 65 silver for each workable piece of crystal, giving them a nice boost to their coffers. Being a Von Gutchensmark, however, he chose to lie about the total he had received, withholding two hundred silver from the total pot to be shared. With his business concluded he left the establishment, giving Pepper his (diminished) share.

Meanwhile, Tesco and Milk had found the supposed wizards tower, and were dismayed to see a considerable queue. Some fast talk and bribery later, Tesco and Milk were in the waiting room on the ground floor. As the previous client left, our pair of 'heroes' went upstairs to meet the magician.

They found a doddering old man who had an impressive collection of knick-knacks, artefacts and tomes. As Milk was proudly displaying his greatsword to the man, Tesco slipped a hefty looking tome into his travelling pack, barely avoiding notice in doing so. With this concluded, and the wizard informing the swords were simply enchanted to glow and to be resistant to rust, Tesco mentioned their crystal foe from the gully, presenting a shard of the rock crystal. Selling this curio to the man, Tesco asked if he could borrow from the wizard's extensive library, on accounts of the previous customer having walked out carrying a large tome. The man was visibly shaken, checking his bookshelf to indeed see a space where a certain tome should be. He ordered his guards to seek out this customer, and to send away all other potential clients. Tesco then enquired as to the possibility of paid work - something this man could indeed over. If the group were to fetch him the beard-ring of an ancient king of note, they would be handsomely rewarded. Eager for work, our group agreed and left to inform their companions. As they moved out, Tesco gave the book a quick scan - he had hit the jackpot, and had stolen a genuine spell book!

They met at a pre-arranged point to exchange information and coin. Milk and Pepper wanted to check for an armourer about the town whilst Gutch had very different plans. Tesco busied himself with finding a guard for their rooms, where they would stash their booty whilst out seeking the ring. Wandering around the market, Pepper found an armourer willing to order in a suit of plate for him, with the caveat it would take about a week to be ready. Milk instead spent his money on a suit of chain-mail and a pair of locks for their chest.

Meanwhile, Abraham Von Gutchensmark had decided to spend his ill-gotten gains in a manner typical to his family name, dropping the majority of his wealth on the most extravagant outfits from the best tailor in town. Seven 'day suits' at one hundred silver a piece and something 'to go out in' valued at over a thousand silver. These opulent garments would take roughly a week to complete, something he agreed to happily.

Tesco, the most demanding of employers, had turned down several candidates on account of 'lippyness' before he found the man he felt best suited to the job. Overpaying the man considerably, Tesco led him to the rooms he was to be guarding. The party met up at this point, leading to Milk tipping the guard again as Gutch explained his plans for the evening -

The party would find the most riotous, loudest bar. Gutch would loudly and publicly drop fifty silver buying anyone who asked that night for a drink, on the condition it was given 'on behalf of Abraham Von Gutchensmark.' With this phase complete, the rest of the party would cause a huge brawl to erupt, giving Gutch ample opportunity to sneak out - earlier in the day, he had scouted out some likely marks for robbery.

The first part of the plan went off without a hitch bar one minor snag - Tesco found a fellow magic user in the bar, a woman who was not at all interested in getting involved in a brawl. She used her magic to put a section of the fight to sleep, slipping out the door. Curious at this, Tesco followed her out, determined to steal a second spell book that day. He followed her for sometime before she rounded on him violently, demanding to know why he was following her. He explained that he too was a wizard, and suggested they continue the conversation indoors. She sighed, and led him to her tavern room elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Gutch was psyching himself up to commit some burglary. Having found his target, he noted that only a single candle was lit in the building. This done, he deftly hopped the fence, moving towards the back door. Reaching into his lightened pack (having stashed his heavier equipment with the chest) he withdrew a small set of basic lock-picks, and set to work at the back doors. The relatively simple mechanisms sprung open before him, granting him access. He padded his way into the house, snagging a coin purse as he went. Finding only noisy loot downstairs, he slowly worked his way up the stairs, finding a corridor with 3 rooms coming off it. Movement from the only right hand door forced him into action, causing him to open the first door to his left and secret himself inside.

Meanwhile, Tesco was attempting to woo the magic user. He succeeded, and a constitution check ensured he did not feel too sleepy afterwards. The lady, however, did not do so well and was soon asleep. Tesco took this opportunity to pilfer her spell book and flee, heading back to the bar. At this bar, Pepper and Milk had ensured the fight had continued for a good long while, masterfully engaging observers and bystanders into the brawl.

Back at the house, Gutch found himself hiding in a spare room. Footsteps approached the doorway. He slowly took out his garrotte, steeling himself. The footsteps continued past the doorway, seeming to approach a toilet at the end of the corridor. At this point, Gutch made the decision to choke out the poor home-owners, making the theft far easier. As the footsteps passed his doorway again, he stepped out, neatly wrapping the weapon around a middle age man's throat. Within seconds, the man was out cold with barely a peep. Gutch left him lying on the spare bed before slinking over to what he deduced to be the master bedroom. He peered in, and saw the man's wife in bed, facing away from him. He slowly padded over before smothering her with a pillow, leaving her unconscious on the bed. With this done he rooted around the room, scoring an additional coin purse as well as several fine jewellery boxes. With the night's larceny done, he headed back to the bar fight.

He walked in as the fight was finishing up, still slipping in unnoticed. Barely minutes behind him were the watch, no doubt there to mop up whatever was left of the fight. Gutch began leaning into Milk heavily, slurring at the guards who took him for another drunk. Asking the party to make sure that he got home fine, the guards let them group leave unmolested - but not after Pepper grabbed the richest looking patron, saying he'd make sure that he got home safe. He dumped the poor bastard in an alley and robbed him blind. They arrived at their rooms without incident, thanked the guard for his work, and retired for the night.